Voters in Boca Raton rejected the proposed One Boca redevelopment project by Terra and Frisbie Group on March 11, with 74.5 percent voting against the plan in a citywide referendum.
The outcome marks a significant victory for local opposition groups, particularly Jon Pearlman’s Save Boca organization, which led efforts to challenge the development. The proposal had initially been awarded to Terra and Frisbie by the city council in February of the previous year, but mounting resistance prompted officials to put the matter before voters.
Pearlman, who also ran for City Council seat B, won his race with 52.9 percent of the vote. Other Save Boca-backed candidates, Stacy Sipple and Michelle Grau, secured seats A and D with 66.6 percent and 55.8 percent respectively, resulting in an anti-development majority on the council. Jason Haber, co-founder of the American Real Estate Association and a supporter of One Boca, described Save Boca’s campaign as “classic NIMBYism.” He said earlier this week: “How are you going to get anything through if you have a council that’s dead set against development?”
The mayoral race between Andy Thomson and Mike Liebelson remains unresolved and is heading to a recount.
The One Boca plan called for a 99-year lease on 7.8 acres of city-owned land and included redevelopment of Memorial Park with new civic facilities such as a city hall, community center, police substation, playgrounds, tennis courts, office space, apartments, hotel rooms, grocery store space and parking. An additional site was slated for condominiums. The developers enlisted Kohn Pedersen Fox as architects.
Terra CEO David Martin and Frisbie leaders Rob Frisbie Jr. and Cody Crowell said in a statement: “While this was not the outcome we had hoped for, we appreciate the community’s thoughtful participation and dialogue throughout this process.”
Opponents raised concerns about leasing public land long-term to private developers without sufficient early public input or clarity over Memorial Park’s banyan trees. Some argued that city funds could cover needed upgrades independently.
Pearlman compared the project to “theft of public land” and “bulldozing Central Park.” With Save Boca candidates now holding sway on council and One Boca defeated at the polls, questions remain about how necessary civic improvements will be funded or executed moving forward.
Council member Marc Widger said earlier this month: “The community center needs to be replaced no matter what, the city hall needs to be replaced no matter what… The city in theory could do it on its own, but that would be a burden to the tax payers.”
